Brazilian oil giant to build ‘world’s largest’ ethanol distillery

SAO PAULO, Brazil — Brazilian
state-controlled oil giant Petrobras and private sugar and ethanol group Sao
Martinho have announced plans to build an ethanol plant with the capacity to
produce 700 million liters of the biofuel annually, the Latin
American Herald Tribune reported.

The oil giant’s Petrobras Biocombustivel unit and Sao
Martinho plan to invest 520.7 million reais (about $328.9 million) in the
project, which will expand the crushing capacity of the Boa Vista sugarcane
processing plant in Quirinopolis, a city in Goias state.

The plant also will generate 600,000 megawatt-hours of
electricity and create 3,000 jobs.

According
to Fabio Venturelli, who heads Nova Fronteira Energia, the joint venture
created to run the facility, “The plant will surely be the world’s largest
sugarcane ethanol distillery.”